Isn’t it wonderful that your sins are forgiven? Praise the Lord! Hebrews 10:16-17 “’This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’” Psalms 103:10-12 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” All the foolish things you have done, all the wicked things you have thought, all the bad mistakes you have made are all forgotten by God since you have believed in Jesus Christ and obeyed the gospel. Since God has forgiven you, you can forgive yourself and put the sins of your life behind you. You can now live a righteous life in service to God.
Consider what is written in Ezekiel 18:21-24 “’But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live? But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.’” The past can be forgotten whether it is good or bad. Where are you today?
Your sins of the past are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. But in the same way, any righteousness and good you have accomplished in the past must also be put behind you. You need to have the same attitude as the Apostle Paul as he wrote in Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul had accomplished many great things in his life. He had spread the gospel in many different locations and converted many. But he was not sitting on his accomplishments. Instead, he was forgetting the things which were behind and he was pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You also must press forward from where you are today.
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is known as the Faith Hall of Fame. The writer of Hebrews follows that chapter with Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Is there anything that is weighting or slowing you down in your Christian journey? Has sin ensnared you? Get rid of it and run the race with endurance. Endurance implies that you don’t give up as long as you are able to run. I encourage you to move beyond your past, whether it was bad or good, and press forward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.